A Familiar Stranger
by xXCarlaLouiseXx
Summary: Cartman saves Wendy from the mean streets of New York, but was there a motive behind this or has he finally changed for the better?
1. Do I know you?

**A/N: My first Candy fic, so I hope it's ok.**

**Hope you enjoy the story : )**

**Disclaimer: I don't own South Park.**

Wendy sighed as she slung her old, worn out, purple backpack, which contained all of her earthly possesions over her shoulder and made her way out into the cold night air. She had just been evicted from her New York apartment, she was washed up, a failure and she had nowhere to go. There was no way she was going back to her family, they had told her from the start that leaving South Park without any qualifications would be her downfall. So now here she was walking the almost empty streets at an ungodly hour of the morning. She knew she didn't have enough money to stay at a hotel and she had too much pride to call one of her freinds, so she found an abandoned shop doorway and sat down, leaning up against the wall and pulling a jacket out of her backpack as a makeshift blanket.

She allowed one stray tear to stream down along her pale cheek as she thought about how stupid and naive she had been when she was a teenager. She was seventeen years old when she left South Park, she hadn't even finished High School. Why would such an intelligent girl do something so stupid you ask? Well, it all happened when a man named John Smith visited South Park, he was posing as a talent agent.

He had fed Wendy a bunch of lies and false promises about how he could make her a big star on broadway if she just paid a one thousand dollar introductory fee and came out to New York to discuss her career with the talent agency. Wendy jumped at the chance -much to her parents' dismay- and immediately handed over some money from her savings. However when she arrived at there was no talent agency, just an empty office, Wendy had been tricked out of her money. She didn't want to go crawling back to her parents just to hear them say "I told you so", so the raven haired girl had got herself a small apartment and tried to find a job. Unfortunately, Wendy Testaburger had been brought up by well off parents, who had never made her work for anything, she was spoiled and found it hard to keep a job once she found one.

She had been living off her life savings for a while, but they were only gonna last so long, it was inevitable that one day the money would run out. Now here she was, twenty one years old and homeless, drifting of to sleep in a dingy, dirty shop door way, a complete and utter failure...but unknown to her someone had seen her being thrown out of her home and followed her to the spot where she was now sleeping... an old acquaintance, who knew her from the good old days.

He had watched her temporary break in strength and that stray tear plucked at his heart strings, he soon found himself stood in a trance, watching the girl he used to know as her chest rose and fell at a steady pace and her thick, black elyelashes slowly and reluctantly touched her slightly flushed cheeks. He then found him self involuntarily advancing towards the sleeping girl, as if some invisible force was drawing him closer, like the opposite poles of a magnet.

Before he even knew what was going on he had lifted the girl from her position on the floor, being extremely carefull not to wake her. He shifted her slightly in his arms so that he could pick up her back pack and sling it over his shoulder, noting that eventhough she was sitting in a dirty doorway, she still smelled nice, like lavender. He made his way through the dark and slightly dodgy streets of the area Wendy lived in. Stopping when he reached his car and gently placing her in the passenger's seat.

When he reached his apartment building in a nicer and way more expensive area, he lifted the raven haired girl once more, tensing slightly when she moved in his arms, but relaxing again when she burried her head into his chest and continued to sleep. He found the corners of his mouth tilt up into a smile against his will as he observed the sleeping girl, she looked so young and innocent, which in a way she was. Wendy was just a young, innocent girl, who had been dealt a bad hand by life, unfortunatley this was something the boy had witnessed many, many times since he had moved to New York.

As he made his way into the lobby of his apartment building the receptionst looked up at him with a concerned expression. "She's an old friend" the boy explained. "She fell asleep on the way over here" he explained. The receptionist shot him a warm smile once he was sure that nothing was wrong and the boy proceeded to carry Wendy into the elevator and towards his apartment. It took him a while to open the door whilst trying not to disturb the girl's peaceful slumber. Once he had managed to get inside, he carried Wendy to his bedroom and tentatively placed her in his bed, pulling the covers over her.

For some inexplicable reason he found himself leaning down to place a tender kiss on the girl's forehead, his cheeks heating up when he saw her perfect, pink lips twitch upwards into a cute smile as she slept. Then he went to shut and lock his apartment door, before collapsing on his sofa and falling into a deep sleep due to the exhaustion of carrying someone such a long distance.

...

When Wendy's purple-ish blue eyes fluttered open, she was surprised to see that she was no longer outside, she was now in an extremely nice looking bedroom. It was minimalistic with a simple but effective black and white colour scheme and a few potraits of scenic landscapes hanging on the walls around her. This was way, way more beautiful than any house she'd ever laid eyes on, it looked like a showroom or an insanely posh hotel.

She froze with sheer panic when she heard footsteps outside of the bedroom, realising that she had no idea where she was or how she got there. Not knowing what else to do, Wendy searched the room for anything she could use as a weapon should the situation need it. She finally decided on an extravegant marble lamp, unpluging said lamp and gripping it tightly, the raven haired girl made slowly crept out of the bedroom and into the hallway.

As she made her way shakily through the hall the sound of singing hit her ears, it was a smooth, confident voice and she soon recognised the song. "Pah pah pah poker face, pah pah poker face. Ma ma ma ma..." That voice, why did it sound so familiar to her?

Continuing into the living room, which was connected to a kitchen, she instantly lowered the lamp when her eyes found the source of that singing. Brown coloured eyes locked with violet ones as the two twenty somethings stared at eachother in silence. "Jesus Wendy!" the familiar stranger broke the silence. "What were you gonna do? Bludgeon me to death with a desk lamp? That's a nice way to thank your rescuer."

Wendy furrowed her brow in frustration. How the hell did he know her name? "Do I know you?" she asked.

He shot her an equally confused look "Don't you recognise me?" he questioned.

She placed the lamp on the floor and made her way over to the sparkling black worksurface of the breakfast bar and took a seat so that she was directly opposite the young man. From this angle she could examine him better, he was nicely toned, not skinny but not fat either, a comfortable average. He was dressed smartly in a black suit, crisp white shirt and red tie, obviously ready for work. A neat, chocolate brown mop of hair sat on top of his head and he had a side fringe, which rested just above shiny, honey brown eyes, all in all he was exteremely handsome.

She tentatively reached out and placed an oddly well looked after -considering her situation- hand on his cheek, as if exploring the contours of his face would provide her with the information she needed "I feel like I should know you" she answered with a frown. "But I just... don't."

The brunet responded with a shrug as he turned away from her to continue dishing out his breakfast "That's ok, it was a long time ago... I've changed a lot." He turned again to place a plate of eggs, bacon and beans in front of her along with a mug of coffee.

"Thanks" she murmured, picking up the mug and taking a sip of the dark liquid.

"Your welcome ho" the boy replied, and a lightbulb went on inside her brain... no... it couldn't be...could it?

However when the boy turned to lean agaist the counter she almost dropped her coffee. There, in his hand, was a quadruple stuffed Oreo, and she only knew one person who liked them as much as her. "Cartman?" she gasped. "Eric Cartman? Is that you fatass?"

A wide, arrogant smirk crept onto his face, somehow only making him more handsome. "Took you long enough to figure it out... dumb hippie."

**A/N: Ok, so I wasn't really too fond of this couple to begin with, but CartmanxWendy has really grown on me. It's slowly becoming one of my favourite pairings, next to Crenny of course lol. So I decided to show it some love and write a Candy fic. **


	2. I've changed

**A/N: So here's chapter two, hope you like it.**

Wendy took a few minutes to digest the information. Eric Cartman: the fat, racist, sexist, just generally prejudiced, manipulative, schemeing, selfish asshole... had helped HER? His second biggest enemy next to Kyle Broflovski? Ok so maybe she wasn't his second biggest enemy anymore after all of that Scott Tenorman shit went down, but she was still pretty high up on the list of his least favourite people, which happened to be everyone except himself. Pushing her chair out from underneath the breakfast bar, Wendy stormed off to search for her backpack, no way was she staying here. The smirk instantly fell from Eric's face, being replaced by a look of confusion "What the hell are you doing now?" he asked, following her back into the bedroom.

"Where is it asshole?" Wendy questioned through gritted teeth as she struggled to pull her purple, stiletto heeled boots on. Once she had succeeded she straightened up and looked him in the eyes, ignoring the slight twinge in her stomach when violent met honey brown. "Where is my backpack?"

"It's by the front door" he replied. However when the raven haired girl advanced towards the door he placed his hands on either side of the door frame, effectively blocking her way out. "You're not going anywhere" he stated with a determined glint in his eyes.

"Yes I am" Wendy responded, ducking under the brunette's arm. However this was pointless as Cartman caught her two seconds later, his big, warm arms wrapping around her waist and pulling her backwards so that her back was pressed up against his chest. "Let me go fatass" she squealed as she struggled to try and pry herself out of his grip.

Eric lowered his face so that his mouth was right next to her ear "Why?" he whispered softly. Wendy froze and fought back a shudder as his breath tickled the back of her neck.

"I don't need help from anyone" she answered, regaining her composure as she slid out of his arms. "Especially you." She strutted into the living room "How do I know that this isn't just a trick? That you're not setting me up for a fall just like you used to?"

"Because I've changed" he answered.

Wendy scoffed "On the outside maybe, but you'll still always be that hatefull nine year old who only ever wanted to crush my hopes and dreams."

"I think you did that perfectly well by yourself this time Wendy" he stated. The raven haired girl didn't bother to reply -mostly because she knew he was right- she just picked up her backpack and swung the door open. "Where are you gonna go Wendy?" the brunette suddenly questioned, causing her to stop in her tracks. Damn! She hadn't thought about that. Wendy didn't reply or turn to look at him, but Eric took the fact that she was still there as ecouragement to continue. "I hope you don't plan on going back to the streets, it's the beginning of winter, you'll die of hypothermia."

Wendy was about to say something along the lines of prefering hypothermia to living with him when he cut her off with "Where else is there Ho? You gonna go crawling back to your parents? Is that what you're gonna do? Because I'm sure they'd be happy to point out how foolish you were for leaving and how they were right all along." That struck a cord with the raven haired girl because it was exactly what she had been thinking, as if he'd pulled the thoughts straight out of her mind. He was definitely still maniupulative, even if he had changed so much in other ways. "It's a shame really, the old Wendy would have at least tried to prove them wrong, but here you are, falling at the first hurdle."

Wendy looked over her shoulder at the brunette. "I have friends I could call" she argued pathetically, knowing that she had left enough room for Cartman to tear that idea to shreds.

"Now we both know that's not going to work out" Cartman stated. "They have their own lives to worry about now Wendy, you can't just call people up after four years and expect them to drop everything for you" he reasoned. "Look, would you just stop being so stubborn and shut the damn door."

Wendy turned fully to face the brunette glaring at him with a cold expression "You may look different, but you're still an insensitive, controlling bastard and everything you said just proved it." She walked towards him, dropping her bag in the process and squaring up to him, trying to gain the advantage of hight, but failing miserably as he had gained quiet a bit of hight since she last saw him. However her reserve never faltered, not for one second "You haven't changed at all."

Cartman let out a loud, frustrated sigh, speaking through gritted teeth "Fine, then I guess I'll have to show you." With that he grasped her wrist tightly and stormed out of the apartment, dragging her along with him and locking the door on his way out. Wendy tried to free herself from his grip, but it was no use, he was a lot stronger now than he used to be. Cartman continued to drag the raven haired girl out towards his car, opening her door with an impatient huff "Get in" he instructed.

"Where are you taking me?" Wendy asked.

"Just get in" Cartman replied.

Wendy let out a loud sigh before complying, she glanced around the car as she was putting her seatbelt on. "So how did you afford this anyways?" she asked, not doubting the possibility that the car may be stolen.

To the raven haired girl's annoyance, Cartman only answered with "You'll see" before pulling out of the car park and beginning their mystery journey.

After a lingering, uncomfortable silence Wendy spoke again "Aren't you gonna tell me where we're going?"

Wendy's lack of trust caused the brunette to smirk as he kept his honey coloured eyes fixed on the road in front of him "Why? Are you worried I'm taking you off to some secret location to murder you?"

"I wouldn't put it past you" Wendy deadpanned in response.

"Don't be stupid Ho" Cartman replied. "If I did that I'd have to give up my current life and go on the run" he pointed out. "Do you honestly think you're that important to me?"

Wendy remained silent for a while after that, but the brunette guy knew she wasn't finished, in the past Wendy had always had an arguement for everything and she hadn't changed much since. "So explain this to me because I'm kind of confused. How, exactly, does forcing me to get into your car and dragging me some secret location against my will prove that you've changed?"

"Once again Wendy. You. Will. See" Cartman answered, beginning to wish he hadn't done this. "Jeez! Hippies are supposed to be mellow, not impatient and hostile. Maybe you should go join a drum circle and chillax already." Soon after that he pulled into another parking lot, only this one was in front of a towering office building. "We're here" he mumbled, getting out of the car and opening Wendy's door for her.

"I could have done that myself, I do have arms" Wendy pointed out.

"Well sorry for trying to be a gentleman" Cartman replied sarcastically.

"You wouldn't know what being a gentleman was if it punched you in your fat, ugly face" The raven haired girl retorted as she followed him into the building.

"Oh please. Insulting my weight? You know that wont work any more Wendy." She had to admit that he was right, he had lost a lot of weight since the last time she saw him. If he wasn't Eric Cartman, Wendy would even go as far as saying he was handsome now, but everytime she thought that her brain reminded her of who he was and she realised how ridiculous it would be for her to have feelings for him.

Cartman guided Wendy in to the office building through the revolving doors and across the lobby, Wendy blushing at the clacking noise her high heeled boots made on the immaculate marble floor. As he approached the front desk the receptionist glanced up at him, before sending a ten thousand watt smile his way "Good morning Mr Cartman" she greeted in a way-too-sweet-to-be-real voice as she played with a perfectly golden lock of hair.

"Morning Sally" Cartman replied lazily, obviously not paying any attention to the blue eyed temptress in front of him. "Is my buisiness partner here yet, I wanna run through the numbers with him again."

Sally's expression instantly dropped "Um, yeah, he got here about an hour ago."

"Oh crap, I'm later than I thought" Cartman cursed under his breath. "Thanks Sally" he called as he had already dragged Wendy into the elevator.

"So oblivious" Wendy chuckled once the doors had closed and they were heading towards the top floor. "That receptionist was practically drooling all over you just now."

"Oh I see" the brunette smirked. "Someone's jealous."

Wendy's cheeks automatically burned a deep scarlet colour as she searched for a subject change before realising something "Wait a minute... buisiness partner? As in you co-own a buisiness?"

"Yep" Cartman answered. "After my friends decided to intervene and make me go on a diet I realised the potential in the health food buisiness. There are a lot of people out there who like to watch their weight and there are also a lot of vegetarians, who wouldn't really like to see someone eating a dead animal right in front of them when they go out for dinner, so I teamed up with... well... you'll see, and we started a health food restaraunt. Neither of us expected it to take off so quickly, but now we own a whole chain of successfull restaurants and we're planning on launching a range for stores soon."

"Wow, all that only three years after leaving high school and with no college education? I guess your negotiating skills really did pay off then" Wendy stated.

"Not really" Cartman answered. "I'm just working with some of the greatest minds in America, but don't tell them I told you that."

"Who are they?" Wendy asked curiously.

"You'll see" he replied once again.

"Is that the only answer you're going to give me today?" the raven haired girl asked as the elevator doors opened and they began to walk towards Cartman's office, passing a few empty desks on the way.

"Well if I told you I wouldn't get to see the look of surprise on your face" Cartman reasoned.

"Where is everyone?" Wendy inquired.

"Why do you have to ask so many questions?" Cartman responded, before letting out a sigh when the girl didn't answer. "It's early, they don't start work for another hour." He paused when they reached the door with his name painted across it in gold letters. "Now I don't want any sarcastic comments or jokes at who I'm working with ok?"

"Now c'mon Cartman" Wendy answered with a mischeivous smile."Would I really make fun of you?" She fluttered her eyelashes in an I'm-totally-innocent kind of way, unaware that this action was causing a different kind of fluttering in the brunette boy's stomach, eventhough he pegged it as just nausea.

"Watever" Cartman sighed as he pushed open the door and stepped inside.

"What the hell took you so long?" an agitated voice scolded. "You only live a couple of blocks away."

"I brought you a surprise" Cartman answered. "She's an old friend of ours."

Wendy had to hold back a gasp when she saw who Cartman had been working alongside since high school. She had been greeted with the familiar sight of soft, firey curls and dazzling emerald eyes. Although this version was a lot more grown up looking and taller with slightly more tone to his figure, she recognised him instantly "Kyle?"

The redhead had a similar reaction to her apearrance "Wendy?" he mirrored her tone of shock. There was a slight pause before he dropped a file that he had been glancing at and practically tackled her with a tight hug "We all thought we'd never see you again... there were rumours going around that you had died! I'm so happy to see you!" he gushed, his grip not showing any sign of loosening.

"Hey Jew!" Cartman interupted. "Let the poor girl breathe."

"Sorry Wendy" Kyle blushed before letting her go."It's just so good to see you."

"Don't worry about it, it's great to see you too" Wendy replied truthfully. "So how is everyone?"

"Why don't you ask them yourself?" Kyle answered. "They should be here in like... an hour."

"You employed all of the kids from South Park?" Wendy asked in disbelief. She had always known that Kyle would do anything to help his freinds, but making sure they all had a future was just unbelievably generous of him.

Kyle shook his head "It was Cartman's idea."

The raven haired girl's violet orbs locked on Cartman for confirmation, he just shrugged it off "It's no big deal. Besides I'm used to seeing their annoying faces everyday by now, it would be weird without them."

But Wendy knew that it really was a big deal, eventhough Cartman wasn't prepared to admit it. Maybe he had changed, and maybe, just maybe, she should give him a second chance...


	3. He said WHAT!

"Hey Hippie," Cartman said, causing the raven haired girl to look up from tracing patterns on the desk. "You want something to do?" He asked.

"Sure," Wendy smiled. While she had been intrigued with listening to Cartman and Kyle's ideas at first, after an hour it started to become a bit boring, esspecially since she couldn't have any input.

The brunet handed her some files "Take the red ones to Kenny and the blue ones to the advertising department. Oh and could you also check on the customer complaints deparment as well?"

The raven haired girl smirked and nodded "Wow, colour coded, you guys are pretty well organised... I'm impressed."

"You should be Ho," Cartman grinned. "Now get going."

As soon as she stepped out of the office, Wendy caught sight of Kenny McCormick. He was at his desk, slumped casually in an office chair, speaking into a headset "Look, I know that you don't usually take that big of an order," he stated, playing idolly with a rubiks cube. "But I also know that you can handle it, we wouldn't be asking this much of you if we didn't think you were the best in the buisiness." There was a slight pause as he listened to the person on the other end, before a winning smile formed on his features "That's more like it," he stated. "I expect to see you in three weeks, don't let me down... Ok, bye now."

He clicked a button on his head set and jumped up from his seat, punching the air in victory "Oh yeah! Landed the deal! C'mon people, I am the king of negociating!" he yelled, causing the women sat at the surounding desks to giggle and clap. A girl in a short black skirt with long brown hair, who Wendy instantly recognised as Lola walked past, giving him a flirtatious grin "I'll see you later," the blonde purred, causing Wendy to roll her eyes... same old Kenny.

"Wouldn't your husband have something to say about that?" Lola asked... ok maybe not the same old Kenny.

"Nah," Kenny replied. "He knows how I roll."

"Kenny McCormick is married?" Wendy questioned, walking towards him with a grin. "I never thought I'd see the day."

"Oh my God! Wendy! I haven't seen you in ages!" he jumped out from behind the desk and pulled her into a warm hug. Breaking from the hug, he bit his lower lip slightly, a blush crossing over his face "Actually it's Kenny Broflovski now."

Wendy's violet eyes widened considerably "No way! How come Kyle didn't tell me?" I asked.

"Oh, you know what he's like," Kenny responded. "When he's working he's serious or whatever, personally I would call it boring, but y'know... enough about that, what about you? Living with Cartman eh?"

"He told you about that?" now it was her turn to blush.

"Sure did," Kenny smirked, there was something about that smile that Wendy found unsettling.

She brushed it off though and decided to turn the conversation back to Kenny "Um... so what do you do here?" she asked.

"Well the majority of the time I'm staring at the kickass legs of the female office workers and thanking the good lord for his wonderfull invention: the skirt," he answered with a sly smile. "But my actual job is to manage and form the company's relationships with other buisinesses. I'm also in charge of dealing with our suppliers, which unfortunately is a skill I've learnt from experience, but luckily that's all in the past now."

Everyone knew about Kenny's drug abuse in High School, In fact, the last time Wendy saw him he was face donw in the snow, dead after overdosing at one of Token's infamous, cursed parties. It was part of the reason why she had wanted to get out of that town and never look back, something she was finding increasingly hard to do

"Well I'm glad to hear it," Wendy smiled. "I'm gonna let you do your job now, so this is for you," she stated, handing him the two red files that Cartman had given her. "And I'll see you later."

Wendy had to admit that Kenny was good looking now, well, he had always been good looking, but now there was something a lot more grown up and charming about it. He was wearing a smart black suit with a white shirt and orange tie, a far cry from his scruffy old parka. Although it was quirkly out of place with his effortlessly cool, scruffy, sandy blonde hair, which had received a much needed cut since she'd last seen him. Then there were his eyes, which were somehow an even brighter and more striking shade of blue now and it was obvious he'd had work done on his now perfectly straight, perfectly white teeth.

As she neared the elevator, Wendy checked the list on the wall to see which floor she needed before stepping inside and pressing the button for the next floor down. The doors started to slide shut, only to be stopped by someone's hand before opening again to reveal Butters Stotch. He was wearing a turquoise suit with a white shirt and yellow tie and clutching a tray of drinks in his right hand. His hair was still a short mess of custard yellow and his eyes were a unique, teal colour. The blonde smiled when he saw Wendy "Well h-hey there Wendy," he chimed, stepping into the elevator.

"Hi Butters," she replied. "It's nice to see you again."

"It's nice to see you t-too Wendy," he answered.

"So what's your job?" She asked curiously as the elevator began to decend.

"Oh, well I'm an assistant," Butters chirped, as if he thought it was the most important job in the world. "It's a pretty fun job, I get to make sure everyone's comfortable with their jobs and I also get to use the shredders and photocopiers." Of course Butters would see that as fun, instead of the worst job Cartman could find for him.

Wendy sighed "Typical. I should have known that fatass hadn't changed much."

"Oh no Wendy," Butters shook his head. "E-Eric didn't make me have this job, I chose it."

"But why?" Wendy asked in confusion as they stepped out of the elevator and began to walk down the hallway. She couldn't understand why someone would want to be running around, taking people's orders all day.

"Because I like making people happy," he smiled cutely and Wendy fought to hold back an 'awwww that's so sweet', why did Butters have to be so innocent. "So please don't be mad at Eric, I would hate it if you fell out because of me."

"Ok?" Wendy responded, begginning to feel really awkward about how everyone was mentioning Cartman to her, what was up with that?

But her thoughts were interrupted by a loud squeak, and a smile instantly lit up her face when she realised who the squeak belonged to "Nngh- Craig! I'm t-trying to talk to the customers!" Tweek's voice scolded and Wendy entered the customer services room to see Tweek grinning through a scowl -odd as that sounds- as Craig attempted to pull the blonde into his lap. Craig and Tweek got together in High School, it was no surprise to Wendy that they were still together, they were just one of those couples that never split up.

"W-Wendy! " Tweek sqealed, leaping up to give her a hug. What is this -Wendy thought- free hug day or something.

Craig just stayed where he was, chuckling slightly at Wendy's surprised face caused by the hug attack "'Sup Testaburger?" he asked boredly.

"Not much Tucker," she replied. "How come you two are working in customer services?"

"It's a nice, boring job," Craig shrugged.

"It's n-not too much pressure," Tweek answered, breaking the hug and smiling when Butters handed him two coffees. "I -gah- had to deal with a lot of customer complaints when I was working in my dad's coffee shop. I know -nngh- how it works."

"Yeah that and he knows all about alergic reactions because he's a hypocondriact," Craig teased, causing Tweek to elbow him once he'd sat down with the coffees, placing one in front of him and the other in front of Craig. "Well it is true Tweek, not that anyone's had an alergic reaction yet. To be honest we don't get many complaints either. So if Cartman sent you down here to spy on us you can just tell him everything's ok and that we're capable of doing our jobs without him checking up on us every five minutes."

Wendy smirked "I knew Tweek would get you into coffee."

Unfortunately Craig smirked right back "Yeah? And what about you? Has the fat fuck got you inhaling cheesy poofs yet?"

"Um... no," Wendy replied shooting the charcoal haired boy a weird look. "I... uh... have to go," she said, ducking out of the room.

"W-What's wrong Wendy?" Butters asked, following her out.

"Nothing," she mumbled. "Where's the advertising department?"

Butters smiled "It's down there on the right," he explained, pointing towards the end of the hallway.

"Thanks for the help Butters," Wendy smiled.

"Aww you don't have to thank me," Butters muttered, a blush colouring his cheeks. "It's my job."

"I know, I know," the raven haired girl assured him. "But I want to thank you."

"Well... your welcome," Butters chimed. "See you later."

With that Wendy set off down the hallway again, pausing when she found the door marked 'Advertising' and took a deep breath -wondering who she would meet next- before pushing the door open. "It's just... missing something," the blonde said, placing her hands on her hips and sighing, her back was turned to the raven haired girl as she addressed the other two people in the room. Wendy watched in awe as her former best friend worked. Bebe Stephens began to pace, her waist length, wavy blonde hair pulled back into a messy ponytail. She was wearing simple black trousers with a red sweater. "Why can't we just run with the version where Clyde has the romance storyline, I liked that one a lot better. The new one is too... dry, too much information and not enough character."

"We can't run with my version because Cartman said it was lacking information," Clyde pointed out.

"Hang on, give me a second," Bebe instructed, before snapping her well manicured fingers. "Aha! Got it!" She turned to the raven haired boy, who was sat next to Clyde. "Stoley, you're the editor, is there any way you could... merge the two adverts together? So that we have the information and a fun storyline?" she asked.

"Is the world round?" Kevin replied with a nerdy comeback.

"Great," Bebe answered. "Do that and then we'll add a plain white screen with the slogan written in black at the end and Clyde, you can do a voiceover of slogan to go with it. We all cleared up now?"

"Yeah," they both nodded.

"Impressive," Wendy commented, causing the three workers to spin and face her.

"Oh. My. God!" Bebe yelled, before the two girls ran into a tight hug. They sqealed excitedly, jumping up and down on the spot like they were still teenagers and they just met their celebrity crush for a few minutes, Clyde and Keving holding their ears mockingly, before they finally calmed down enough to speak.

"I missed you so much," Wendy stated.

"I missed you too," Bebe replied, both girls almost in tears.

"So what's been going on? What have I missed?" Wendy asked, wanting to know everything. "How are things with Stan?" Stan and Bebe had also got together in High School and while Wendy had been completey furious about it at first, she had soon learned to just be happy that two of her closest friends were happy.

"Well," Clyde smirked. "Stan is officially Bebe's bitch now."

"He is not my bitch," Bebe groaned. "He is a house husband, it's a perfectly respectable thing to do and he's an excelent father to Rachael."

"OH MY GOD!" Wendy blurted. "You have a daughter?" Bebe nodded, Wendy knew that Bebe had always wanted kids and would probably be the first to have one, but she hadn't expected it to be this soon. "How old is she?"

"Almost one," Bebe smiled. "You'll have to come over and see her one day Wendy, she's soooo cute."

"Whatever," Clyde cut in. "It's still clearly evident who wears the trousers in your relationship." Kevin chuckled and hi-fived the brunet, causing Bebe to roll her eyes.

"I have to say Bebe, you look amazing. Last time I saw you, you still had those braces remember?" Wendy questioned.

"Well," Bebe smiled, showing her now super straight teeth. "They're all gone now." She paused staring at her friend through her big, chocolate brown eyes before saying "No offense Wendy, but you look like you slept on the street last night." Wendy shifted uncomfortably. "How do you expect to impress Eric Cartman looking like that, esspecially now that he's gotten thiner and hunkier."

"Ok that's it!" Wendy snapped."Why does everyone keep talking about me and Cartman like that?"

"C'mon Wendy," Bebe chuckled. "We all know that you're engaged, stop trying to hide it."

"WHAT?" Wendy exclaimed. "Who told you?"

"Cartman of course," she answered. "Although I would have prefered to hear it from you." Wendy stormed out of the room "Where are you going?" Bebe called as she followed her into the elevator.

"I need to have a word with Cartman," Wendy growled, anger rising inside her.

"Oh was it suppossed to be a secret?" Bebe asked anxiously.

"How many people have you told?" Wendy questioned.

"Um...just a few... everyone," Bebe mumbled, and Wendy didn't even wait for the doors to open fully before she stormed towards Cartman's office.

She slammed the door open "Kyle get out, I need to talk to Cartman," the raven haired girl snapped, and Kyle -slightly scared by the harsh tone in Wendy's voice- complied immediately, shutting the door behind him on his way out.

"Now Wendy..." Cartman started. "Let's not get too wound u-"

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?" Wendy yelled. "What? Did you think I wouldn't find out? Because this has to be the stupidest, most evil trick you've ever played on me. I was going to give you a chance, I was going to try and be friends with you. And you repay me by lying to everyone that I'm your girlfriend? Explain... NOW!"

"No, and for the record it was fiance not girlfriend" Cartman said. "I know what you're gonna do Wendy. You're gonna go tell them that it was a big lie and then you're gonna cut me out of your life and go straight back to living on the streets. Well, how about this one time you try not doing that? Why don't you just go along with it?"

"What are you saying?" Wendy asked in absolute confusion.

Cartman took a deep breath "I'm asking you -Wendy Testaburger- to pretend to be my fiance."


	4. Here's The Deal

"YOU WANT ME TO PRETEND TO BE YOUR FIANCE?" Wendy bellowed, ignoring Cartman's efforts to shush her, thank God that the room was relatively sound proof. "HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?"

"Think about it Wendy," the brunet stated. "If the public see the head of this company as a family man, they'll be more inclined to buy the product for their families, it's a simple buisiness plan."

"I don't believe you," Wendy glared.

"That's it I swear," the brunet defended, before sighing when the raven haired girl continued to stare him down. "That and I made a bet with someone."

"WHAT?" Wendy yelled again. "Why would you do that? Who did you make the bet with?"

"I kind of... uh... Scott Tennorman," Cartman mumbled.

"Wait, I thought you were gonna have nothing to do with him since... you know..." Wendy stated, not knowing whether it was safe to talk about the whole parent chilli thing or not. Not that she knew a lot about it, she'd just heard a whole bunch of rumours about it from other people, some of them not even witnesses to the incident.

"Yeah, but he came up to me at prom -he was a chaperone for some fucked up reason- and told me that no one would ever love me... so I kind of bet him that I could get someone to fall in love with me before I reach twenty five. Then it kind of got out of hand and it's now a five thousand dollar bet," he explained.

"Why am I not surprised?" Wendy huffed. "But you're only twenty one, you have four years left."

"Wendy seriously, you know what I'm like," the brunet pointed out. "Who is ever gonna love that?"

"Well, do I have to be your fiance? I mean a girlfriend could be in love with you," the raven haired girl questioned.

"Well he said it would only be legitimate if the girl was prepared to marry me, so that he knows I haven't just payed some girl to act like she was in love with me," Cartman answered.

"How ironic," Wendy replied sarcastically. "Well this sounds like a pretty one-sided deal to be perfectly honest." Wendy paused, actually considering the proposition -mostly because she felt sorry for him- before asking "What's in this for me? Because at the moment I can't see anything stopping me from opening this door an-"

"Ok, ok," Cartman interjected, panic crossing over his face as Wendy started to edge towards the door. "You get to make your parents happy with the news that you're finally doing something with your life," the brunet tried to get to her weak point, and for a second it looked like she was going to accept.

However, Wendy was smarter than she used to be "And... what else?"

"You've learned haven't you? Dumb hippie bitch," Cartman smirked, but when she reached for the door handle he let out a defeated sigh. "Fine... and a job as my personal assistant."

"Deputy manager and a quarter of the bet money," Wendy retorted smugly. "Or no deal."

"Fine," Cartman replied through gritted teeth. "But you'll still be beneath me," he grinned slyly.

"For that," Wendy smiled. "You have to propose to me. I assume you already have a ring? In case people started asking about it."

"You know me so well dearest," he answered mockingly, dropping onto one knee and producing the single most beautiful ring Wendy had ever seen. It was a simple, silver ring with one fairly big diamond in the middle, but it was sophisticated and elegant and it suited Wendy perfectly. It was almost as if Cartman had actually put a lot of thought into it. This thought almost distracted Wendy, but she was quick to regain her composure.

"Oh no," she smirked. "That won't do. I want you to ask me out there," she pointed to the door. "In front of everyone, and do it properly."

"No," Cartman scowled. "I'm not gonna publicly humiliate myself for your benefit."

"Well then I'm afraid there's no dea-"

"Ok, ok," Cartman huffed, dragging Wendy out into the main office. By now everyone had heared that Wendy and Cartman might be breaking up and had gathered to watch the potential drama. "Everyone listen up!" Cartman called, grabbing the attention of the croud. "I realise that Wendy and I have been pretty secretive about our relationship..." Wendy shot him a glare "...until now, but we wanna do this the right way from now on and include all of you... so..."

Cartman got down on one knee again, taking Wendy by surprise as he stared up at her with loving, devoted, honey brown eyes. 'He's just acting,' Wendy told herself 'He's just acting, he's just acting, he's just acting,' she repeated over and over in her mind "Oh my god!" Bebe squealed, clapping excitedly.

Cartman sighed, a blush colouring his face as he produced the ring again "Wendy Testaburger... you drive me absolutely insane, but I love you. They say opposites attract and I now know that whoever 'they' are, they're completely right. Wendy, what I'm trying to say is that I couldn't live without you're perfectly annoying and sometimes infuriating presence... so will you please, PLEASE marry me already?"

Wendy smirked in response "Hmm, I'll have to think about that," she replied teasingly, Cartman gave her a look of absolute despair "...Ok then I guess," she answered, rolling her eyes playfully. He gently slipped the ring onto Wendy's finger, causing the girl to gasp a little when she noticed that it fit perfectly. Her violet eyes met his honey brown ones for a split second, causing a blush to colour both of their faces before they shrugged it off and Cartman stood up again.

"Woo hoo!" Kenny shouted. "Now give her a kiss!"

Cartman and Wendy shared a sideways glance, before Cartman ran a hand through his hair awkwardly, the blush returning "Nah, you guys don't want to see us kiss."

"Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her!" Kenny chanted, before turning and guesturing for the crowd to join him.

"Kiss her! Kiss her!" they chanted.

"Fine," Cartman sighed before placing a small peck on the girl's cheek. "There."

"BOOOOOO!" Kenny shouted, getting the others to join him again. "Give her a proper kiss."

"Yeah," Bebe nodded. "On the mouth," she giggled.

"Let's just get it over with," Wendy mumbled in a hushed tone.

"Ok," Cartman nodded, leaning towards her. They slowly and reluctantly closed the gap between them, pausing when their noses touched, both of them breathing heavily from something other than lack of oxygen... nerves maybe? Then Wendy -wanting to get it over with- pressed her lips forward the extra few inches, crushing their mouths together. The brunet had to admit that Wendy was a good kisser... and vice versa. They had obviously both forgotten how that breif kiss in third grade had felt.

They relaxed into the kiss, arms wrapping around one another as the kiss lasted a little too long. When they finally broke the kiss Wendy started to pull away, but Cartman kept her there, whispering "Good acting Ho."

Wendy blushed -of course they weren't gonna admit that it might have been an amazing kiss- before replying "Not bad yourself, Fatass."

"Wooo! Engagement party!" Kenny shouted enthusiastically.

"What?" Wendy and Cartman chorused.

"Yeah dude, you two just got engaged. You totally have to go out in a large group and get absolutely smashed now, it's like... the rules or something," Kenny stated matter of factly.

"Oh please!" Butters begged. "I haven't been out in ages."

"Who said you'd be invited Butters?" Cartman questioned.

"You have to!" Bebe joined in.

"As long as I'm not paying for anything," Craig deadpanned.

"Nngh- too much pressure!" Tweek exclaimed.

"It would be fun I guess," Kyle added.

"Dude! It would be awesome!" Clyde jumped in.

"Yeah," Kevin nodded.

Cartman and Wendy shared a look of defeat, it was going to be a long night...


End file.
